Lady Champs, Viqueens need OT, again

A smothering defensive effort helped Cascade's girls creep by rival Community 43-39 in overtime Tuesday night in front of a capacity crowd in Wartrace.

The Lady Champions (15-6, 7-4 District 9-A) held their neighbors to just one field goal over the game's final 8:55, including a clutch effort in overtime that kept the Viqueens (13-9, 5-6) off the scoreboard the first three minutes, thanks in part to their full-court press, which resulted in its share of forced turnovers.

"For both teams, that game was nothin' but downright, sheer heart, playin' for school pride, just guts," Cascade coach Chad Spencer said. "Both teams just absolutely gutted it up all night long.

"It was an exciting game. It was exciting for me over there coaching."

The game was shockingly similar to the drag-out battle back in mid-December in which Cascade pulled out a 55-45 overtime win.

The lead changed hands the eighth and final time Tuesday when Lady Champion Jessica Popp sank a pair of free throws 10 seconds into the bonus period.

A basket by M.K. Potts and another free throw by Popp pushed the lead to 42-37 before Aubrey Boyce's bucket ended the Community drought.

Boyce, who led the Viqueens with 14 points to go with seven rebounds, had the only made field goals for the visitors over the final 14 minutes.

"There at the end, some of our young kids on both sides kind of showed how young they were tonight when the pressure was on them, playing in front of an absolutely packed house," Spencer said. "It was hard to even hear yourself talk to the person next to you, so there were a lot of communication breakdowns.

"I told the girls that's how it's going to be every time those two schools meet up. It doesn't matter what sport they're in, that's just how it's going to be."

With three District 9-A games left on the slate, Cascade is in third place in the standings behind front-runner Forrest and Moore County. Community falls into fifth place, a game back of Middle Tennessee Christian.

Tiffani Grogan's 3-pointer pushed the Lady Champs ahead 12-9 at the end of the first quarter.

The Viqueens turned up their own heat on defense in the second quarter, holding their hosts to six points, with Katie Leverette giving them a 19-18 halftime advantage with a field goal 20 ticks prior to the buzzer.

"I thought we did an excellent job defensively," Community coach Allison Layne said. "Courtney did an excellent job on (Potts). Then, we went to a zone to help off a little bit more. Everybody communicated well."

The visitors never lost control of the upper hand in the third frame. Boyce's bucket with 48 seconds showing eased them in front 31-28 with the final stretch looming.

"Offensively, we've struggled here lately to get ball movement going," said Layne, who noted how her team passed the ball well in the second quarter but quit attacking the basket in the third.

The advantage continued to stick with the Purple and Gold until freshman point guard Haley Edmondson knocked down the biggest basket of her career as her 3-point dart found the bottom of the net to put the Lady Champs in front 37-36 with 1:40 left in regulation. They never trailed again.

Potts led Cascade with 14 points and added eight rebounds. Popp grabbed nine boards with Kelsey Parker snatching five.

Georgia Ralston swiped nine rebounds for the Viqueens.

Up next for the Lady Champs is a trip to fourth-ranked Forrest, led by Class A Miss Basketball candidate Beth Hawn.

"They play tremendous team defense," Spencer said. "Those girls have played together since they were 8-9 years old and it shows. They know where each other is out there on the court. We'll put a game plan together that hopefully works."

Community hopes to slide into fourth place in 9-A as it hosts MTC.

"You never know," Layne said. "There's a lot of ball to be played. Everybody's got three district games left. Anything can happen in our district. You've got to come ready to play every night."

Both games tip off Friday night at 6.